Book Review: Ark Royal

First of All: So I've liked this page on Facebook which talks a lot about Fantasy and Sci-fi stuff.  Most of the time, they just post memes which only nerdy people would get, but occasionally, they'll recommend a book which they liked.  When they posted a short review about Ark Royal, by Christopher G. Nuttall, I got curious and decided to look into it further.  To be honest, it's actually really good.

Second of All: The Book!
Everything changed for the people of Earth once they discovered the gravimetric Tram lines that ran from star to star.  A brilliant scientist developed a device called the Puller drive, which would allow starships to travel these lines in a heartbeat, and thus humanity began its expansion into the stars.  Earth's various political powers have each claimed several inhabited worlds, and each of them have been building up military strength and developing new, more efficient ships for the better part of a century.

Captain Ted Smith, the commanding officer aboard an ancient British carrier named H.M.S. Ark Royal, knows that his command is more punishment than anything.  The decrepit old ship was one of the first battleships built, and now, at 70 years old, it's kept running by sheer determination and grit from its minimal crew.  Everyone in the British navy knows that Ark Royal is where they send the washouts and failed members of the Navy, and it's driven Captain Smith into alcoholism.

Everything changes one day when he's called to a meeting with the British Navy's highest officer, the First Space Lord, who gives him grave news.  Humanity has made first contact with an alien race, and the extraterrestrials aren't friendly.  All of mankind's forces are mustering in the first combined effort to defend human space in history, and the Ark Royal is needed.  With a new, ambitious first officer, Commander James Fitzwilliam, in tow, Captain Smith begins preparations to take his old carrier out into the battle with a vastly superior alien race.

Third of All: The Review!
Going into the book, I was a bit skeptical of how good it would be, since the cover seems to suggest self-publishing, or perhaps an inexperienced publisher.  But I was very pleasantly surprised when I got into the book.
Christopher Nuttall weaves a fantastically real-feeling universe, where tensions between nations run high and the stakes are always increasing.  He portrays the burdens of aristocracy, the weight of command, and the very real repercussions that war has among common citizenry, all with a very skilled and talented hand.  His characters felt real, with passions and history and strengths and weaknesses all of their own, and even the minor, unimportant characters had depth.

Also, the alien race he created was amazingly well-made.  Even though the reader never finds out much about them, the amount of detail he gives us about what their ships look like, their physical appearance, and other aspects (which I won't mention due to spoilers) all demonstrate that he's put a lot of thought into this alien species.

So well was his universe created that the dynamics of space travel and the nature of the ships in his world made for some very real-feeling situations in the book, where the characters' survival was always hanging just on the edge.  The space combat was very well executed, and felt real as well.

There were two things that didn't sit well with me, though.  First and foremost, there was some sexual content in the book.  It was set up by some real-feeling psychological issues, and the situation that resulted because of it was very realistic, but I was disappointed that such a great story had to include it.  Also, there were a few typos, and some times where phrases were repeated in pretty close succession, though this issue could very easily be fixed with a good copy edit.

Overall, I thought this was a great book, and I hope that he gets around to writing another.  Were it not for the above mentioned issues, Ark Royal would have got a near-perfect grade, but as it stands, I give it a Four and a Half out of Six Nerd Stars.

Movie Review: The LEGO Movie

First of All:   LEGOs.  An essential part of any awesome childhood.  Certainly a central and pivotal part of mine.  So naturally, when I saw that this movie was coming out, I kind of geeked out.  A lot.  And then, today, when my family asked if I wanted to come along and see it with them on opening weekend, I gave them a wholehearted and enthusiastic "Yes!"   And let me tell you, I wasn't disappointed at all.

Second of All: The movie!
The LEGO Movie follows Emmet Brickowski, a completely and entirely average LEGO minifigure who enjoys his all-too routine life as a construction worker.  One day after work, he stumbles across a mysterious girl minifigure named Wyldstyle, and then is thrust into an adventure that he never saw coming.

Now, as the Special proclaimed by prophecy, Emmet joins up with the Master Builders--an elite group of minifigures who can construct anything they imagine--and is forced to find something unique inside of himself to become the only hope of stopping the tyrannical Lord Business and his unstoppable superweapon: the Kragle.

Third of All: The review!
Mere words can't contain the amount of awesome that this movie bears.  Witty dialogue, family-friendly fun, action, comedy, popular culture and nerd culture references, romance, a touching and epic story, and even more incredible features are what make this movie one of the best I've seen in recent memory.  Though it is geared toward kids and teenagers, any child at heart will thoroughly enjoy this film.  Besides, it has a fantastic cast of great voice actors like Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson (heck yeah!) and Will Ferrell.

Another fantastic feature of the film is that everything--and I mean characters, scenery, lasers, special effects, and even the explosions--in the movie has been painstakingly constructed from LEGOs, which gives it an absolutely wonderful feel.

I did see the movie for the first time in 3D, and I would recommend that you watch it in 2D.  The large amount of action and fast-moving scenes get kind of blurry when seen through a pair of special 3D glasses, and I feel like I missed out on some of the finer details because of it.  

The LEGO Movie carries a wonderful message, an incredibly creative approach to the theme, and an ending which tugs at the heartstrings.  I wholeheartedly recommend this movie, and it is with no reservations that I give it a full Six out of Six Nerd Stars.

Book Review: Redshirts

First of All:  Alright, I'm going to come out and say this now: I'm not a biased sci-fi lover.  I love Star Trek just as much as I do Star Wars or Firefly or anything else.  That being said, since I really started watching Star Trek about a year ago, I've fallen in love with the speculative side of science fiction, and I was a bit sad when I realized that the J.J. Abrams reboot a few years back didn't have as much of that element as did the original incarnation.  For the record, I'd have to say that my favorite character in all of that universe is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and his Galaxy class starship--the Enterprise-D-- will always be my favorite ship in all of Star Trek.
So when I stumbled across a review lauding the excellence of John Scalzi's Redshirts, and its take on the original Star Trek series (with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy), I was too intrigued to pass it up. Also, for those who aren't familiar with the original Star Trek, the term "redshirt" refers to random personnel whose purpose on the show was to get killed to prove that whatever threat the main characters was facing was indeed real and dangerous.  Most episodes feature a random crew member getting offed in this way, leading to make the term "redshirt" synonymous with "expendable," or "dies a lot for no reason at all."

Second of All: The book follows a low-ranking crewman named Andrew Dahl, who has just graduated from the academy and has been assigned to his first posting on a starship, which happens to be the flagship of the entire Universal Union: the starship Intrepid.  He quickly makes several friends among the other low-ranking crew members, but begins to notice several strange occurrences around the ship.  It seems that whenever their ship is assigned a mission, it involves some kind of deadly alien force or experience.  Miraculously, the senior staff--such as the Captain, the Senior Science Officer, and a handful of others--always manage to survive.  Also, on every one of these missions, at least one low-ranking crewman will die.  As he investigates further, Dahl begins to uncover more and more secrets that hold the key to the fates of everyone he cares about.

Third of All: The review!
I thoroughly enjoyed Redshirts.  It was a fantastically creative take on the original series, and isn't content to just parody the old TV show; it takes the reader on a speculative journey that makes you question the nature of the universe.
The characters felt incredibly real to me, which is saying something.  Each person had value, had a back-story, personality traits, and very real reactions to the frankly horrific stuff that redshirts get put through.
The story itself was profound, gripping, and had action and tension spaced perfectly well throughout the story to make it real.  Not only that, but the rules that Scalzi sets up for the world he's created also work incredibly well.
There are a couple drawbacks to the book, in my opinion, though.  First and foremost, there's quite a bit of strong language in the book.  Like, a lot.  Understandable, considering the predicament that the characters go through, but still excessive.  Also, there are references to adult themes that some people may find offensive.
Also, if you're not a Star Trek fan, then you probably won't get most of the story, as the entire thing is a reference to the old TV series.
Aside from that, though, I found this book to be an incredibly good read.  Were it not for the aforementioned content, I'd have given it a near-perfect score, but as it stands, it gets a Four and a Half out of Six Nerd Stars.